Printing press



1932- c. HENDERSON 1,870,117

PRINTING PRES S Filed Jan. 10. 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet l Aug. 2, 1932. c.HENDERSON PRINTING PRESS Filed Jan. 10, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 172M672("07": Carl fleizclersovz,

Patented Aug. 2, 1932 PATENT easier;

SARI HENDERSON, F OAK PARK, ILLINOIS ERIN TING PRE$S Application filedJanuary 10, 1931.

he'invention relates to printing presses of the type that are providedwith impression and form cylinders, and the primary object of theinvention. is to pr vide an improved press of the character describedwhich will print relatively long sheets of paper, or the equivalent, andhold the sheets in accurate registry during the entire printingoperation. A printing press embodying one form of the inventioncomprises an impression cylinder and a. form cylinder of substantiallyequal diameters. Sheet feeding means is positioned adjacent the formcylinder and feeds the sheets t0 the impression cylinder, the printedsheets being removed from the impression cylinder by a transfer cylinderpositioned on the sameside of the impression cylinder as the feedingmeans. The construction is such that a sheet, the length of which ismore than two-thirds of the circumference of the impression cylinder,may be I printed and will remain in accurate registry throughout theprinting operation as the transfer cylinder does not commence strippingthe sheet from the impression cylinder until the printing operation hasbeen com: pleted. The transfer cylinder delivers the sheet to a conveyorwhich, in turn, delivers it to a second conveyor adapted to stack thesheets, printed side up.

Another form of the invention is embodied in a multi-color printingpress, and comprises a plurality of printing couples and a conveyor fortransferring the sheets from the first printing couple to the secondone. The apparatus is arranged so that relatively long sheets may beprinted and kept in accurate registry during the entire printingoperation.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent as the followingdescription pro gresses, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic longitudinal section taken through apparatuswhich embodies the invention, and

Fig. 2'is a diagrammatic longitudinal section taken through apparatuswhich embodies another form of the invention.

Referring to Fig. 1,1 have shown a printing couple which comprises aprinting or Serial No. 507,968.

form cylinder and a tympan or impression cylinder 11, the cylinders 10and 11 being substantially equal in diameter.

Any suitable means may be provided for feeding sheets of paper, or theequivalent, to the printing couple. Thus, I have shown a feedingcylinder 12 having a diameter which is one-half the diameter of theimpression cylinder 11.

The printed sheets are removed from the impression cylinder 11 by atransfer cylinder 13 which delivers them to a delivery conveyor 1 1, thedelivery conveyor 14; being adapted to deliver the printed sheets to adelivery conveyor 15.

The feeding cylinder 12 is provided with sheetgripping fingers 17 whichcarry each sheet into a position wherein its forwardedge may be seizedby gripping fingers 18 carried by the impression cylinder 11. Thetransfer cylinder 13 is provided with gripping fingers 19 which engagethe forward end of each sheet of paper after it has been printed andstrip it from the impression cylinder 11.

The conveyor 1 preferably comprises cylinders 20 and 21 and a deliverychain 22, the delivery chain 22 being provided with gripping fingers 2 1and 25 adapted to receive the printed sheetsfrom the gripping fingers l9and to bring them into a position wherein they may be grasped bygripping fingers 26 and 27 provided upon the conveyor 15. The conveyor15 comprises cylinders 28 and 29 and a chain 30 which carries thegripping fingers 26 and 27.

Any suitable means (not shown). may be providedfor driving the improvedappa ratus. The feeding cylinder 12 and the transfer cylinder 13 maketwo revolutions for each revolution of the impression cylinder 11 or theform cylinder 10. Therefore, the peripheral speeds of the cylinders 10,11, 12 and 13 are substantially equal. The belts 22 and 30 arepreferably driven at speeds which are substantially equal to theperipheral speeds of the cylinders 10, 11, 12 and 13.

The construction is such that when sheets are advanced to the feedingcylinder 12 in such manner that they maybe engaged by the grippingfingers 17, the gripping fingers 17 seize and advance one of the sheetsfor every two revolutions of the feeding cylinder 12. lVhen the grippingfingers 17 hold the forward edge of one of the sheets during a feedingrevolution, they come into registry with the gripping fingers 18 asthese gripping fingers travel toward the form cylinder from the positionwherein they are shown in the drawings. The sheet is then released bythe gripping fingers 17 and is drawn around the impression cylinder 11and printed as it passes between the form cylinder 10 and the impressioncylinder 11. hen the forward ed of the printed sheet comes into registrywith the transfer cylinder 13 the sheet is released by the grippingfingers 18 and seized by the gripping fingers 19 so that the sheet isdrawn around the transfer cylinder 13 to bring its front edge into aposition wherein it may e seized by either the gripping fingers 2a orthe gripping fingers 25. The gripping fingers 24 or 25, as the case maybe, draw the sheet along the upper leg of the conveyor 22 and deliverit, printed side up, to the gripping fingers 26 or 27 and draw theprinted sheet along the lower leg of the conveyor and stack it, printedside up, as indicated at 32.

It will be noted that the feeding mechanism is disposed adjacent theform cylinder 10 and that the feeding mechanism and the transfercylinder 13 are disposed on the same side of the impression cylinder 11,the construction being such that a sheet whose length is more thantwo-thirds of the circumference of the impression cylinder 11 may beprinted by passing between the cylinders 10 and 11 before the forwardend of the sheet is seized by the gripping fingers 19. This isadvantageous as the sheet remains in accurate registry throughout theprinting operation. Heretofore, as far as I am aware with respect toprinting presses of the type illustrated in the drawings, when a sheethaving a length more than one-half the circumference of the impressioncylinder was printed the transfer means would commence stripping theforward end of the sheet from the impression c linder before the lastportion of the sheet lad been printed. This resulted generally, if notalways, in movement of the sheet with respect to the impression cylinderso that the sheet would be moved out of registry with the printing formscarried by the form cylinder. I

Printing presses embodying my invention preferably have the feedingmechanism arranged to feed the sheets as closely as pos sible to theprinting line between the form and impression cylinders and the transfercylinder is preferably positioned as closely as is possible to thefeeding mechanism. This is accomplished by placing both the feedingmechanism and the transfer cylinder to one side of the impressioncylinder, as explained above.

Referring now to Fig. 2, wherein I have shown a multi-color printingpress which embodies another form of the invention, the referencecharacters and 51 designate generally two printing c mples which areoperatively connected to each other so that the sheets of paper, or theequivalent, may be printed in one color by the printing couple 50 andprinted in another color by the printing couple 51.

The printing couple 50 comprises a form cylinder 52 and an impressioncylinder 53 which are of substantially equal diameters. Any suitablemeans may be provided for feeding the sheets of paper to the printingcouple 50. Thus, I have shown a feeding cylinder 54 provided withgripping fingers 55, the gripping fingers 55 being adapted to bring theforward edges of the sheets into registry with gripping fingers 56carried by the impression cylinder 53. The gripping fingers 56 seize theforward edges of the sheets and carry them around the impressioncylinder 53 so that the sheets may be delivered to a conveyor which isdesignated generally by the reference character 57.

The peripheral speeds of the form cylinders 52, the impression cylinder53, the feeding cylinder 54 and the conveyor 57 are substantially equaland are also preferably equal to the peripheral speeds of the cylinders(hereinafter described) forming parts of the printing couple 51.

The feeding cylinder 54: is positioned adjacent the form cylinder 52,and it will be noted that the conveyor 57 is adapted to st p the printedsheets from the impression cylinder 53 at a point which is relativelyclose to the feeding cylinder 54:, the construction being such that arelatively long sheet of paper may be printed between the form cylinderandthe impression cylinder 53 and will remain in accurate registrythroughout the impression cylinder 53 until the completion of theprinting operation.

The conveyor 57 preferably comprises a cylinder 58 which is disposed inthe same vicinity as the feeding cylinder 5%. Trained around thecylinder 58 is a conveyor chain 59 which is also trained around acylinder 60 associated with the printing couple 51. Intermediate thecylinders 58 and 60, I preferably provide a plurality of cylinders oridlers 61 and 62 over which the conveyor chain 59 is trained, thearrangement being such that the conveyor is substantially L- shape.

The conveyor chain 59 is provided with gripping fingers 64 adapted toreceive the sheets of paper from the gripping fingers 5G and to carrythem to the printing couple 5]..

The printing couple 51 comprises a form cylinder and an impressioncylinder 71,

the cylinders 70 and 71' being ofsubstantially equal diameters, andpreferably ofthe same diameters as the cylinders 52 and 53. Theimpression cylinder 71 is provided with gripping fingers 72 adapted toreceive the sheets of paper from the gripping fingers st and to carrythem around the impression oylinder Tl so that they may be strippedtherefrom by gripping fingers 74 provided upon a transfer cylinder 75which is disposed adjacent the cylinder 60. The gripping fingers M areadapted to deliver the printed sheets to fingers 2556 provided upon aconveyor chain 22a; which forms part of a conveyor designated generallyby the reference character lea.

The conveyor 14a comprises a cylinder 21a which is located below thetransfer cylinder 75. In this instance, the conveyor 14a is identical inconstruction with the conveyor'l l described above and isadapted todeliver the printed sheets to a conveyor (not shown) which is identicalwith the conveyor described above. This construction insures that thesheets will be delivered and stacked, printed side up. It will be notedthat the feeding cylinder 54 and the cylinder 58 are disposed to oneside of the impression cylinder 58 and that they arein the vicinity ofthe form cylinder'52.

The cylinder at the discharge end of'the ccnveyor'59 and the transversecylinder 74 are disposed to one side of the impression cylinder 51 andare disposed in the same vicinity f the form cylinder 70. Therefore, theconiPlI-lOIl illustrated in Fig. 2 has the same characteristics as thestructure shown in 1 he operation of the apparatus shown in Fi 2 issubstantially as follows: The sheets 'o v@ printed are delivered one byone to the impression cylinder 53 by the feeding cylinder 5a and areprinted as they pass between the form cylinder 52 and the impressioncylinder 53. This printing is done in one color, as described above. Thegripping fingers 6% of the conveyor 57 strip the sheets from thecylinder 53 after they have been completely printed, as far as theprinting couple 50 is concerned. The sheets are then carried along thebottom side of the conveyor 57 and are delivered to the gripping fingers72 of the impression cylinder 71 to be printed with a different color ofink by the form cylinder 70.- lVhen the sheets have been completelyprinted by the printing couple 51, the fingers T l of the transfercylinder 75 engage the front or ges of the printed sheets and strip themfrom the impression cylinder to deliver them to the conveyor lea. Theconveyor Ma and its associated conveyor (not shown) stack the sheets,printed side up.

As set forth above, apparatus embodying the invention permits a sheet ofa length more than one-half the circumference of the impression cylinderand that this printing oporation is completed before the forward end ofthe printed sheet is withdrawn from the impression cylinder. In theillustrated embodiments of the invention, the length of the sheet is, ineach instance, more than twothirds of the circumference of theimpression roller.

lVhile I have shown and described certain embodiments of my invention,it is to be understood that it is capable of many modifications.Changes, therefore, in the construction and arrangement may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the .invention asdisclosed in the appended claims, in which it is my intention to claimall. novelty inherent'in my invention as broadly as possible, in View ofthe prior art.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a printing press: a printing couple comprising an impressioncylinder and a form cylinder of substantially equal diameters; feedingmechanism disposed in the same vicinity as the form cylinder and adaptedto feed sheets to said impression cylinder; and a transfer cylinderdisposed on the same side of the impression cylinder as said feedingmechanism and adapted to strip the sheets from said impression cylinder,said sheets making less than one complete revolution of the impressioncylinder.

2. In a printing press: a printing couple comprising an impression,cylinder and a form cylinder of substantially equal diameters; mechanismfor feeding sheets to said impression cylinder; and a transfer cylinderfor'stripping said sheets from said impression. cylinder after they havebeen printed, said sheets making less than one complete revolution ofthe impression cylinder, said feeding mechanism and said transfercylinder being disposed to one side of said impression cylinder. I

'3. In a printing press: a printing couple comprising an impressioncylinder and a form cylinder of substantially equal diameters; mechanismfor feeding sheets to said impression cylinder; and a transfer cylinderfor stripping the printed sheets from said impression cylinder, saidsheets making less than one complete revolution of the impressioncylinder, said form cylinder, said feeding mechanism and said transfercylinder being disposed in the same vicinity with respect to saidimpression cylinder.

l. Ina printing press: a printing couple comprising an impressioncylinder and a form cylinder; mechanism for feeding sheets to saidimpression cylinder; a transfer cylinder for stripping the printedsheets from said impression cylinder; and a plurality of conveyors inseries for delivering the printed sheets from said transfer cylinder andiso turning them to stack them with their printed sides up.

5. In a printing press: a printing couple comprising an impressioncylinder and a form cylinder of substantially equal diameters; mechanismfor feeding sheets to said impression cylinder in close proximity to theprinting line between said impression cylder and said form cylinder; atransfer cylinder positioned in the same vicinity as said feedingmechanism and adapted to strip the printed sheets from said impressioncylinder; a conveyor comprising an endless chain equipped with grippingfingers for receiving the printed sheets from said transfer cylinder andfor advancing them along the top side of the conveyor; and secondconveyor comprising a second endless chain equipped ith gripping lingersadapted to receive the printed sheets from the first mentioned conveyorand adapted to stack the sheet with their printed sides up.

6. In a printing press: printing couple comprising an impressioncylinder and a forni cylinder of substantially equal diameters; feedingmechanism disposed in the same vicinity as the form cylinder and adaptedto feed sheets to said impression cylinder; and means for stripping theprinted sheets from said impression cyl nder, said stripping means andsaid feeding mechanism being disposed to one side of said impressioncylinder so that said sheets make less than one complete revolution ofsaid impression cylinder.

7. In a printing press: a printing couple comprising an impressioncylinder and a form cylinder of substantially equal diameters; a secondprinting couple comprising a second impression cylinder and a secondform cylinder of substantially equal diameters; mechanism for feedingsheets to the first mentioned impression cylinder in close proximity tothe printing line between the first mentioned impression cylinder andthe first mentioned form cylinder; a conveyor for transferring thesheets printed by the first mentioned printing couple to said secondprinting couple, said conveyor being adapted to strip from the firstmentioned cylinder at apoint which is in the same vicinity as saidfeeding mechanism; and means for stripping the sheets from the secondimpression cylinder after they have been printed by the second printingcouple.

8. In a printing press: a printing couple comprising an impressioncylinder and a form cylinder mechanism for feeding sheets to saidimpression cylinder in close proximity to the printing line between saidimpression cylinder and said form cylinder; a transfer cylinderpositioned in the same vicinity as said feeding mechanism and adapted tostrip the printed sheets from said impression cylinder; a conveyorcomprising an endless chain equipped with gripping fingers for receivingthe printed sheets from said transfer cylinder and for advancing themalong the top side of the conveyor; and a second conveyor comprising asecond endless chain equipped with gripping fingers adapted to receivethe printed sheets from the first mentioned conveyor and adapted tostack the sheets with their printed sides up.

9. In a printing press: a, printing couple comprising an impressioncylinder and a form cylinder; a second printing couple comprising asecond impression cylinder and a second form cylinder of substantiallyequal diameters; mechanism for feeding sheets to the first mentionedimpression cylinder in close proximity to the printing line between thefirst mentioned impression cylinder and the first mentioned formcylinder; a conveyor for transferring the sheets printed by the firstmentioned printing couple to said second printing couple, said conveyorbeing adapted to strip from the first mentioned cylinder at a pointwhich is in the same vicinity as said feeding mechanism; and means forstripping the sheets from the second impression cylinder after they havebeen printed by the second printing couple.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto affixed my name, this 22d day ofDecember,

CARL HENDERSON.

